One p.m. at the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall. A choir of Chinese Christians serenely sings hymns as a bearded man hocks tefillin to passersby. Just meters away, a self-declared prophet preaches redemption and a steady stream of shoppers stroll by without taking note.
Welcome to Jerusalem's city center.
The golden triangle of Ben-Yehuda, Jaffa and King George streets has been the focal point of the city since the British Mandate. Home to coffee shops and restaurants, it was once generously populated by intellectuals, tourists and dignitaries.
"The city center used to be literally the center of everything. People would come from all over the place to buy things, for entertainment or just to stroll around," says Azriel Nadav, who has worked in the city center for the past 30 years as the owner of Pick Jewelry and Art on the midrehov (Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall).
The town center has suffered the ups and downs of history including wars, sieges and, more recently, terrorism, but it has always survived. Recently, however, there has been a major shift.
"About five years ago things changed," says Nadav. "Because of the intifada, people avoided coming to the city center, and the Jerusalem Mall and other shopping centers took people away from here."
Reflecting that Israelis are not shopping in the city center as much as they used to, he says that 75 percent of revenue at his store used to come from Israelis and 25% from tourists, but now the situation is reversed as 65% comes from tourists and 35% from Israelis. It's a precarious situation because the regional instability affects tourism.
But now, with renewed energy and focus, city planners are determined to buck the trend of recent years and make the city center flourish once again. A host of new infrastructure, transportation and cultural projects are already under way, and the new policies are already reaping tangible results.
During the past two years the city center has experienced a 20% increase in foot traffic to more than 100,000 people a day, according to a study commissioned by the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA). The study, conducted by Chimansky Ben-Shachar, a local business consultancy, attributed the increase to the relatively recent presence of service-oriented businesses, such as banks and post offices, which attract a lot of activity. The arrival of more brand name stores has also brought more shoppers.
The study noted an increase in traffic in all areas of the triangle, except for the King George-Jaffa intersection, where a decrease of 13% was documented. The decrease in traffic in that area, according to the study, is a result of the type of stores that operate there. There are more boutiques in the area as opposed to service-oriented businesses, and thus less foot traffic.
The revival of downtown Jerusalem is not just academic. "We've definitely felt it both in the store and in the streets," says Nadav.
Spearheading this resurgence is Asaf Vitman, CEO of Eden, a sub-group of the JDA focused completely on the renewal of the city center. Sitting in front of an aerial map of the city, Vitman confidently states, "The policy of the JDA, the municipality and the government of Israel is to renew the city center of Jerusalem."
The JDA is an independent entity formed in 1988 by both the municipality of Jerusalem and the government of Israel. Both the JDA and Eden receive funding from government sources and charitable donations through the Jerusalem Foundation.
The Jerusalem Foundation of Canada recently kicked off a $2 million fund-raising campaign earmarked for the renewal of the city center. The monies raised in Canada will be directed to the rejuvenation of Zion Square, including the installation of a contemporary sculpture by artist Ron Arad, and community outreach programs focused on young inhabitants of the area. The foundation works in consultation with city planners.
WHILE TERRORISM has played a significant role in the decline of the city center, Vitman is quick to note that there were other factors at play. "In the last generation all over the world populations have moved away from the city center; this has also happened in Jerusalem. It's not as simple as just terrorism; it was issues with infrastructure and a general social trend which caused the decline."
Dr. Daniel Felsenstein, director of the Institute for Urban and Regional Studies at the Hebrew University, explains that during the 1970s and 1980s Western cities developed in a sprawling trend, where the centers of town declined and the suburbs flourished. This pattern began to change in the 1990s and the focus shifted to city centers. An urban planning ideology developed, which rejected the notion that suburbs must grow and centers decline; rather growth in both areas became a viable and reasonable goal.
"This is the reality in Jerusalem: The hi-tech industry is outside the city, and communities and shopping are outside the city center so the economic activity has moved out too. Basically the perimeter is expanding but the center is also making a comeback, like in many US cities," says Felsenstein.
"There is a worldwide trend to create an environment that attracts a creative class, artists, students, musicians and professionals who focus on creativity, as opposed to production or services," he explains. "Cities that have this core of creativity are making a comeback. It's almost become a magic remedy spurring resurgence in city cores. It's not the creative class that creates the comeback necessarily; rather it's a symbol of openness and a tolerant attitude of a city, which then fosters growth in other areas and creates more activity."
Felsenstein thinks that Jerusalem fits this mold.
"There is a lot of planning to make the center more attractive to this class of people; what is happening in Jerusalem now seems to reflect this world wide trend."
One of Vitman's guiding visions is the notion that the city center is a product, and "like in the private sector when competing with other products, you need to make the better product in order to succeed and then the demand for the product, in this case the city center, will grow."
